George Clooney, Amal Alamuddin engagement confirmed

On Monday, the law firm of British lawyer Amal Alamuddin, Clooney’s longtime girlfriend, confirmed that the couple is engaged.

“The barristers and staff of Doughty Street Chambers offer their best wishes and congratulations to Ms Amal Alamuddin, a member of Chambers, and Mr George Clooney on their engagement to be married,” the firm said in a statement, according to Reuters.

Lawyer Amal Alamuddin is pictured during a press conference in London on November 5, 2012. (JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Robin Jackson, the chief executive of Doughty Street Chambers, offered personal congratulations to Alamuddin, saying “She brings a bright light to everything she is involved in, and I am so delighted at her happy news.”

Rumours of the couple’s engagement first broke over the weekend, after several reports claimed Alamuddin, 36, had been spotted in public showing off a large ring, worn on her left ring finger.

Alamuddin, who has represented Julian Assange among other high-profile clients, was said to be showing the ring off to Cindy Crawford, whose husband, Rande Gerber, is Clooney’s business partner at a restaurant over the weekend. A day earlier, diners at Craig’s, another restaurant in Los Angeles, claimed the couple seemed to be celebrating their engagement with other friends.

Born in Beirut and fluent in both French and Arabic, Alamuddin is believed to have come to Mr Clooney’s attention through her work with Kofi Annan, the United Nations’ envoy to Syria.

The actor has himself long championed human rights causes, in particular the plight of refugees in the Sudanese region of Darfur.

Clooney, 52, has been married once before, to actress Talia Balsam. The couple split in 1993, after four years of marriage. The actor has since dated a long line of women, but is notorious for his unwillingness to settle down — in fact, as recently as December, he claimed to have “no aspirations” to tie the knot again.